The Collaborative International Dictionary
Steady \Stead"y\ (-[y^]), a. [Compar. Steadier (-[i^]*[~e]r); superl. Steadiest.] [Cf. AS. stedig sterile, barren, st[ae][eth][eth]ig, steady (in gest[ae][eth][eth]ig), D. stedig, stadig, steeg, G. st["a]tig, stetig. See Stead, n.]
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Firm in standing or position; not tottering or shaking; fixed; firm. ``The softest, steadiest plume.''
--Keble.Their feet steady, their hands diligent, their eyes watchful, and their hearts resolute.
--Sir P. Sidney. Constant in feeling, purpose, or pursuit; not fickle, changeable, or wavering; not easily moved or persuaded to alter a purpose; resolute; as, a man steady in his principles, in his purpose, or in the pursuit of an object.
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Regular; constant; undeviating; uniform; as, the steady course of the sun; a steady breeze of wind.
Syn: Fixed; regular; uniform; undeviating; invariable; unremitted; stable.
Steady rest (Mach), a rest in a turning lathe, to keep a long piece of work from trembling.
Usage examples of "steady rest".
As he hesitated, a crossbow-bolt, shot from a steady rest by a man under a hedge a hundred and fifty yards off, caught him full in the face.
The tripod would now provide a solid and steady rest for one of the heavy two-man arquebuses, even in tossing seas.
My gun is true, and I had a steady rest by means of my espontoon, which I have found very serviceable to me in this way, in the open plains.
He dropped on one knee, and taking aim from a steady rest through the unlopped branches of a felled tree, fired, and at once stood up to look.